STH Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Shimmering Planet
“Don’t talk nonsense, previously when the large bronze coffin fell over, the bronze coffin within was not in a stable position and must have shifted causing the noises.” Lin Jia said calmly pacifying the group’s emotions.

The nine dragon corpses were 100 metres in length, their scales were awe-inspiring and seemed to shimmer. Lying beside was the bronze coffin which was 20 metres in length lying on top of the large five coloured stone altar giving people strong feelings of unease.

“I think we should go together to explore the lights flashing in front.”

“I also feel that we should move together as a group.”

Several people also voiced similar opinions and it was clear that people were fearful of continuing to stay near the dragons and bronze coffin. Finally, it was decided that everyone would go together towards the light source.

This piece of land was mainly composed of reddish-brown soil and gravel, a barren land that was sporadically dotted with huge rocks.

Walking by the large rock that was used as a viewing platform, Liu Yun Zhi exclaimed: “This large piece of rock has writings on it!”

Looking at the side of the large rock facing the light source, it was clear that two huge ancient words were engraved on the rock. Each word was 5 – 6 metres tall, strong skillful stroke, majestic and filled with vigor and strength like two angry dragons spiraling together to form the word.

The two words were several times more complicated than modern words and it was unknown how many countless years the words had been engraved there. Everyone gathered before the large rock looking at the two ancient words frowning as they tried to make some headway as to what the words meant.

“This seems to be a bronze object with inscriptions, the first word appears to be ‘Ying’ ”. Zhou Yi was able identify the first word, with raised eyebrows he uttered softly: “What sort of place have we been transported to……”
“This is indeed a bronze inscription and the two words spell the word ‘Ying Huo’*.” Ye Fan explained as he recognised the words. Ye Fan looked calm on the outside but the meaning of the two words made his heart tremble.

[T/N* Ying Huo is the short form of “Shimmering Planet”, the ancient chinese name for Mars]

Ying Huo, how can it be Ying Huo? He could not believe what he was seeing and looked towards the sky but the although it was very dark the few stars could be seen.

“Ying Huo, what does that even mean?”

“Ying Huo, is that a place?”

Many people did not comprehend what the two words meant.

When Zhou Yi heard the two words “Ying Huo”, his heart was trembling just like Ye Fan, his face visibly paled as he said: “The luminous flame burns, leaving chaos in its wake. We really…… have no way to go back anymore.”

“What do you mean? Where is this place?” Everyone was feeling alarmed.

When Wang Zi Wen heard the two words Ying Huo, he understood the meaning and explained to the group: “I’m afraid that we are no longer on earth. Dazzling like fire, the people of old coined the term Ying Huo which was a premonition for bad things to come. Ying Huo was how the people of ancient times referred to Mars.

Eons ago, the people of old had long noticed the crimson colour of Mars. The brightness changed unceasingly and glowed like fire. It moved constantly in the sky, sometimes in the East and occasionally in the West. This inexplicable phenomenon puzzled the people of ancient times which led to “The luminous flame burns, leaving chaos in its wake” and hence the name “Ying Huo”*.

[T/N* Ying Huo is a combination of the words from phrase above.]

The emperors of old believed that when Mars appeared it was always an ominous sign and a prime minister would be dismissed or the emperor would die every time it appeared. The modern man dismissed these tales as simply superstitious beliefs.
“Oh my god!” Carter said after finally understanding what was said regarding Ying Huo and it’s meaning. He started to grab at the reddish brown soil and hit the surrounding rocks, constantly inspecting the substance of the land and shouting weird noises at the same time.

“How can this be possible?” Many people were dumbfounded and were unable to face the reality in front of their eyes.

“This piece of reddish-brown land below our feet is actually Mars?! We are no longer on Earth?!” Everyone was left in a daze, this simply did not make any sense.

Half an hour ago they were still on the summit of Mount Tai, half an hour later they were on Mars, this was simply preposterous!

Lin Jia was slender and charming, her pretty face was slightly pale as she looked at the group and said: “We’ve only just seen the engravings on the huge rock, this doesn’t confirm that we are really on Mars.”

“But it’s been said that on the dry surface of Mars the ground is littered with red soil and rock, and the environment around us is precisely that. Isn’t that so?” A female student tearfully said.

Mankind had sent space probes to explore Mars since the 1960s and in 1997 “Mars Pathfinder” managed to make a successful landing on the Martian surface.

After several tens of years of exploration, Mars was no longer a complete mystery and humans had obtained many valuable information on it.

“Martian soil contains large amounts of iron minerals and having been exposed to ultraviolet rays over a long period of time the whole of Mars is a rust covered world. This is exactly the scene in front of us. Could it be that we have really left Earth and are actually standing on another planet?!” A male student said while clenching his fists till his nails turned green.

“If we’re really standing on Mars, it wouldn’t be possible for us to live. There isn’t enough oxygen and the temperature would be sweltering…….” Although Li Xiao Man’s face was pale but her words lifted the hopes of several people.

Throughout this entire process Ye Fan, Pang Bo and a few others were calm. They believed that they were no longer on Earth and what could be worse than that? Anything that happened from here on would pale in comparison.

Everyone stood in front of the huge rock for a long period of time before finally leaving towards the light source. The light source seemed rather near but after walking over 500 metres they had yet to reach the light and it looked as though it would take another 500 metres to get there.

Everyone’s hearts were heavy and few people spoke. The atmosphere was stifling and people were afraid that their last vestiges of hope would be extinguished.

“Bang!”

Pang Bo kicked away a piece of broken rock creating a small cloud of dust. His face had an expression of surprise as he realised that the piece of rock that he kicked away actually looked like a tile.

“It really is a tile!” Upon picking up the broken piece of tile he immediately recognised that this was a coarse man made tile.

The group immediately crowded over to look at the broken tile and their expressions were filled with excitement.

“ Since there are tiles here there must be buildings as well. This piece of land must surely have people living here. There aren’t solely altars here.”

“We are saved!”

“We can finally escape from danger!”

With the chance to live on, their feelings of pessimism lessened and their feelings of hope and joy were rekindled

At this time the sky had already turned dark and the sky was filled with stars.

Ye Fan looked at the sky and noticed a blurry disc hanging in the sky that looked to be half the size of the moon. This was sufficient proof that this was no longer Earth. At another spot in the sky there was a star the size of a fist that was brighter than the other
stars but dimmer when compared to the small moon. It could be said that the stars were far too bright and the moon was far too small and dim.

Zhou Yi, Wang Zi Wen and Liu Yun Zhi were standing not far away and they noticed Ye Fan’s actions and also looked up at the sky. When they saw the two moons that were suspended in the sky their faces drained of colour.